Oscar de la Renta

Also back in March I mentioned Vogue 2950, an Oscar de la Renta suit.

I had cut it out, and was worried about the jacket being too big at my regular size 12. Well, laziness dictated to me that I should just sew up the jacket in a 12 without making any sizing changes, and hope for the best. I luckily lucked out. It fit.

Here's the finished product:

For the life of me, I can't seem to take a self portrait that is in focus. I also can't seem to take a self portrait with a normal look on my face. Oh well. While we are on the subject of this photo, my legs look unusually skinny and long. So that right there makes this photo a keeper.


But  now back to the suit. The skirt is actually the one pictured here with my bow neck top.

The skirt is high waisted and fits like a dream. The fabric is a stretch twill, which probably has something to do with how easy this skirt is to wear. I love the skirt and have plans to make it again.

The jacket fits well too and still gives me plenty of room to move around. The sleeves are lined, there is a hidden button placket, and a matching bow belt. I am absolutely in love with the details that went in to making this jacket. 

I did run into a little snag. I followed the instructions to a T, and came up short with the button placket. 

Okay, well not short literally, but short in the sense that it didn't look good. There was pulling and gaping and ugliness. And I was frustrated.

It wasn't pulling because there wasn't enough fabric to go around. It was pulling because of the hidden button placket. After cursing and talking it out with TC, and inspecting the pattern art closely, I noticed the slightest hint of a line of stitches down the front of the jacket just past the placket.

So even though there was nothing in the instructions to indicate that a line should be sewn down the front of the jacket, I did it.
And TADA! No pulling or gaping. It's amazing.

I was pretty frustrated that a detail like that was left out of the instructions. It seems small, but I was doing my best not to cut any corners (other than crossing my fingers about the fit of the jacket), and I was worried that a line of stitches would ruin the look. Luckily, it didn't ruin anything, and it helped the whole thing to lay flat.


The verdict on Vogue 2950: it's a great pattern with neat finishes. The fit is great and construction is fairly easy. The only issue I came across was that one line of stitches down the front.